


Shatterpoint

by F-117 Nighthawk (F117_Nighthawk)



Series: Dark Matter [10]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Colony, Episode: s04e06 A New Defender, For Want of a Nail, Gen, Kolivan realizes he done fucked up, Lotor's a lot less straight up evil than in canon, Naxzela, SO UHH TW DISCUSSION OF ATTEMPTED SELF SACRIFICE, THERE IS DISCUSSION OF WHAT KEITH TRIED TO DO AT NAXELA, but it's also very important, happy crying, see: for want of a nail, this is basically a lot of setup for more coherent fics, which is why the rating is teen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-20 16:44:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16559435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F117_Nighthawk/pseuds/F-117%20Nighthawk
Summary: Haggar makes a slightly different decision, and Lotor has a slightly different realization.Meanwhile, Kolivan is forced to have a revelation and has to make a few decisions.Title is aStar Wars Reference





	1. Initial Split

**Author's Note:**

> *rolls in three months later with a stack of protein bars* whatup somehow I'm not actively burying myself in work rn have a fic I wrote in about twenty four hours  
> Anyone remember me yelling on tumblr about making everything from season five onwards not canon? Well, here we are.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotor has a slightly different realization.

Lotor stomped down the corridor of his ship. His ship that was currently _being attacked._ How had this happened? How had they figured out what he was doing? They’d only just finished the second ship, this wasn’t supposed to happen until he was _ready._ This wasn’t supposed to happen until he had a viable alternative for the Empire’s energy crisis, not until he had an army behind him to stand up to his father. There was no way he could win this fight right now.

“Hold them off as long as you can, then scuttle the ship,” he growled to the nearest sentry, “And clean the data banks completely, crush them if you have to. The Imperials are _not_ getting their hands on my plans.” The sentry saluted and scuttled off to the bridge.

Behind him, Axca changed her stride so she was right next to him. “Sir, we shouldn’t leave until we find the tracker. It could potentially be on the main Sincline Ship despite the countermeasures.”

“I. Am. Aware.”

He knew she was right, they had to figure out how Zarkon had tracked them before they left or there would be the stars to pay. She was _always_ right, always more level headed than him, serene when she had no right to be, never rushing into stuff. He was glad to have her back. Even so, he didn’t think the countermeasures had failed to find a tracker. It must have been on the _Aldusaemar_ itself.

Lotor turned to tell her as much when his eye caught on something. _Oh._ Maybe the countermeasures _had_ missed something. Something they’d not been designed to catch. He focused and called up the quintessence sensing abilities his Altean heritage gifted him. Sure enough, he sensed the tendril of corrupted quintessence.

They’d found and destroyed Zarkon’s tracker just fine. Just as the _Witch_ predicted. How much did she know? How much had she found out after he got back to the _Aldusaemar?_

It didn’t matter anymore, he’d made the crucial mistake and it was bringing the whole operation down on his head. He should never have brought her along as a bodyguard. Any of them would have been a mistake, but _her,_ with her psychic abilities….this could, _would_ , be his last mistake. His cover was blown, his plans exposed. From here on out it was either defeat his father out in the open and bring the Empire to justice for everything it had done, or die trying. Tupsaaz mi duazyikueka.

Well, at least he would never have to see the witch again, and he could get rid of her tracker easily now that he knew what it was. Without so much as a sound Lotor drew his sword and lashed out.

Two halves of a body hit the ground with a quiet thunk. His generals stared at him.

“....Sir?” Ezor’s voice barely made it over the still blaring alarms. Lotor could sense Axca’s eyes on him, boring into the back of his skull, questioning what he had just done. Zethrid leaned down and poked the body. Narti’s face was turned towards him as if she was staring at him, accusation in her nonexistent eyes.

“Zethrid, Ezor, take the second ship. You, with me.” His coat whipped against Axca’s shins as he turned for the main Sincline Ship. Something had lifted off his shoulders with that act. He almost felt….free. Free from years of pain and terror and brainwashing, free from having to hide his base instinct to _help people_ from those that deemed it weak, free from trying and failing to carve out a life for himself and the four he, inexplicably, cared about on the fringes of a society that hated them just for existing.

He was free to try and do what he’d been secretly building up to for years: access the quintessence field. And then, once he’d done that, he’d go to the Voltron Coalition, and tell them exactly how to bring the Empire to its knees.

Axca stared at Lotor for a moment before kneeling down and gently grabbing Narti’s hand. _Why?_ She felt her saying.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure he’ll explain. Come on, we need to go.”

Axca dragged Narti up to standing and led her into the ship. As the ramp closed behind them, she glanced back at the severed remains of Kova, Narti’s longtime companion and eyes. 

* * *

 

“Sir! Sir! Bakal Kolivan, _Sir!”_

Kolivan abruptly turned around from his stride towards the training room and faced the poor Blade following him. “This had better be an emergency.” He had to find the kitok before the all-member Coalition transmission.

The Blade shrank a little “Ah, not...yet? But it definitely could be if given enough time.”

“What.”

“We just intercepted a transmission from Imperial high command. They’ve declared Prince Lotor a fugitive of the state and sent all ships after him. Zarkon’s made him _dumora.”_

“...Dumora.”

“Yes, Sir. Dumora.”

On one level, the level that had grown up with the Blades learning the great history of Galran civilisation, Kolivan couldn’t believe it. The _Emperor_ declaring his own child _dumora?_ It was _unheard_ of.

And yet, the other part of him, the part of him that had grown up with the threat of destruction upon him, the part that had seen battle and lost friends and family and lovers, that had seen Zarkon with his own eyes, believed it.

“Thank you, Kaldan. Continue to keep an eye on any mentions of Lotor in Imperial transmissions.” The renegade Prince could prove either a valuable chance, or a disastrous nuisance. He very much hoped it would be the former.


	2. Ambar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotor finally gets to talk to the Princess

_“You have to let me talk to the princess! I have important information that she needs!”_

The big Galra that was holding him didn’t even seem to notice he was talking. They simply continued down the hallways of the Castle of Lions, both of Lotor’s hands in one meaty paw. Behind him, six more Galra slightly more gently guided his generals after them. He could tell that the only thing holding Zethrid back from throwing them off her and running for the ships was his own words before they’d gotten here: “Even if they don’t treat us as allies at first, they will eventually. Just give it time.”

Somewhere ahead of them the Black Paladin opened a door. “In here, Vanzet. Space them out a little.”

Vanzet threw, _literally threw,_ him into a small cell and the quintessence sealed door rose up behind him. _“Paladin! I have to talk to the Princess!”_

The Black Paladin barely glanced at him before turning on his heel and walking out of the room, all the Galra following him. Lotor slumped against the back wall of his tiny cell with a sigh.

“Well, that went well,” Ezor grumbled.

“It did. We’re a lot closer to the Princess than we were a quintant ago.”

“We’re in her _cells,”_ Zethrid pointed out. Lotor didn’t have a way to make that better. 

* * *

 

Lotor had almost fallen asleep when he heard the swoosh of a door. All five of them looked up and spotted Princess Allura striding into the room, with the Black Paladin and one of the Galra behind her. “Prince Lotor, Kihonerva Marmorait.”

“That is me, yes.”

“And what about these others?”

“I’m Zethrid, Kikvan Martokit.”

“Ezor, Kizellen Mardukayt!”

“That’s Narti, Kitonal Marzizaikit. She’s half-Ik’ken, so unless she’s touching you you’re not gonna hear her. I’m Axca, Kixcis Marzet.”

Allura nodded and looked around at them all, then turned back to Lotor, although she was pretty clearly addressing them all. “I suppose I should thank you for what you did, but that doesn’t mean I trust you.”

“No, I suppose it doesn’t. I’ve fought with you and tricked you several times before. But just know, I have no loyalty at all to the Empire, and I never did.”

Allura narrowed her eyes. “You were acting Emperor.”

“A necessary ruse to throw my father and the witch off my scent, which apparently didn’t work as well as I had hoped. They discovered my plans and destroyed my ship, which I think you discovered when you followed my distress call.”

The Princess pursed her lips. “Do these plans have anything to do with the ships you showed up in?”

“Yes. Those are two thirds of what I’ve dubbed Sincline. It’s made of the same material as Voltron, the trans-reality comet you inadvertently helped me acquire. Theoretically, this gives it many of the same capabilities as Voltron, but I don’t know any Altean alchemy to be able to unlock them.”

“Why do you want something with Voltron’s capabilities?”

Lotor sighed and leaned back. “Princess, when you went with Voltron to get the trans-reality comet, what did you see?”

“Another universe--”

“No. Not the other universe. What did you see _between_ the universes?”

“....quintessence.”

“Exactly. The portals the trans-reality comet can open are not only between universes, but they are _between_ universes. There isn’t “nothing” outside of the universe, there’s a bunch of quintessence. Pure, unrefracted quintessence. If we could access it on a regular basis, if we could _harness_ it, we could solve the Empire’s energy crisis. The witch would stop using that destructive corruption of nature. Voltron would have an _advantage_ in this war. You could pull planets away from the Empire without having to fire a shot.”

“So you came to me, in hopes that I would be able to use alchemy to build you another Voltron. We’re not making a deal here, Lotor. You’re here to provide useful intel, and if it doesn’t work then I will hand you over to the Coalition to do with as they see fit.”

Lotor pursed his lips. Well, this hadn’t gotten him very far. “Could you at least make a stop by the Altean colony and pick Narti up a cat? I had to kill her old one and she used it to help navigate when there was too much noise for her ears.”

“I am _not_ making a stop at-- _wait WHAT.”_  

* * *

 

Cassan had been having quite a normal day until the sensors started freaking out on him. He did a double take when they first started beeping; a highly concentrated quintessence signature had just appeared in the system. Normally he’d just call it space whales and be done with it, but whatever this was read as even more concentrated than those.  Curious, he pulled the readouts over to the main screen of the sensor station. It almost seemed like...like the ancient quintessence signature of a teleduv, except no one had _built_ a teleduv in millions of decaphoebs. Not even Lotor came by teleduv. He tapped in a code on the intercom. “Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy, Bandor? You might wanna get to the sensor room, and maybe tell your sister. There’s something….weird going on.”

“Define “weird,” Cassan.”

“Like an energy signature I’ve never seen before suddenly popping into the system?”

“....I’ll be right there.”

He was indeed right there, with his sister trailing after him. Her nose was deep in her datapad as she mumbled something about supply routes and how they needed to fix the farming system before the winter or there would be the gods to pay. “Alright, Cassan, what am I looking at?”

Cassan shrugged. “Honestly? Only got a very vague idea. It’s not pure type, but it does look like it’s got a lot of air-quintessence. It almost seems to me like the teleduv energy signature.”

Bandor shook his head. “Not possible. Those haven’t existed in millenia.”

“I know. Which is why I called you two.”

Bandor elbowed his sister. “Romelle. Look up for a minute.”

“I’m almost done with this and it’s _important--”_

“I know, I know, because we haven’t been able to fix the broken farming machines since Mom disappeared and for unexplained reasons our best alchemists have no idea what’s wrong.”

Bandor sighed and stared at the readouts with Cassan for a moment. He squinted and leaned in closer. “Did...five more just pop in?”

“...I can’t tell, let me enlarge it.” Cassan tapped a few buttons and the readout zoomed in on the mysterious quintessence signature. The huge concentrated one suddenly disappeared, leaving behind five distinct smaller, but even more concentrated, quintessence signatures.

Romelle finally looked up from her datapad, having done the best she could to deal with the farming situation for the moment. “Those...those are pure type. Like, _pure_ pure type. We’ve never been able to make such pure quintessence.”

Bandor nodded in agreement. “Pure air, earth, nature, water, and fire.”

“We have to send a squad out to--wait, oh my gods. Oh my _gods.”_ She rushed over to the other side of the room and started shoving stuff off the old comms console.

“Romelle? What are you doing?”

“Hailing them.”

“Wh-- _Romelle._ What if they’re Imperial?”

“Bandor, shut up and trust me.” The comm console made a beep and the usual Altean style of visual and audio comm appeared on the main readout in the room. “Attention unidentified ships, this is Romelle Alfarin of the Altean colony Ambar. We have you on our scanners and I really hope you’re who I think you are because otherwise Bandor is going to kill me before Lotor has a chance to even yell at me for blowing our cover.”

There was a crackle of static as the three in the room held their breath, and then: “Oh gods, he was telling the truth. There’s actually--You’re--I--This is Princess Allura Altea. I can’t--Can I land somewhere? I need to land.”

Bandor’s eyes were wide as he mouthed _Princess Allura?_ at her. She nodded quickly, a grin spreading across her face. “There should be a clearing just outside the main settlement to the west that should fit all five Lions. Welcome home, Princess.” Romelle clicked the comm off and ran for the door.

Bandor followed her. “Wait what? Lions? Princess Allura? Isn’t she dead? Do you know something I don’t?”

Romelle looked over her shoulder but didn’t stop running. He continued after her through the halls of the main compound until they burst through the main doors onto the grand patio. With a grin, bouncing on the balls of her feet, she turned to him. “Do you remember the old legends of Voltron?”

“Uh, yeah, but wasn’t it destroyed? Every Lion was on-planet when Altea fell.”

“Nope! They’re _spaceships,_ Bandor, they can get out of there.”

“Not against the entire Galran fleet.”

“Do you remember great-grandmama telling us stories of Altea and the Fall? How House Marmora fought to open an escape route for as much of the Altean population as they could and that’s part of why we’re here now? They couldn’t have done that by themselves against the rest of the Houses, especially with House Martok’s new weapons coming into play. The Paladins of Voltron helped them out. And the Castle of Lions had a _teleduv._ It could have gotten out of there. King Alfor and Princess Allura could still be alive!”

“So you’re saying, that quintessence signature was...the Castle of Lions’s teleduv, and the other five were--”

Bandor stopped as the whine of engines made its way through the air. He looked up just as the Blue Lion of Voltron came hurtling across the settlement. It slowed to a stop just west of the main compound and circled in the air over it. Around the compound, Alteans came out of their homes and gaped at the sky. The Blue Lion circled around one more time and then landed in the middle of the clearing Romelle had pointed out.

Romelle and Bandor ran for the clearing and many of the other Alteans followed them. They reached the clearing just as a figure in a pink version of the old Paladin armor ran down the Blue Lion’s ramp. They all looked up as the other four Voltron Lions zoomed overhead and circled around to land.

The figure in pink looked around at the gathered mass of Alteans. “You’re--You’re all--oh gods you’re _alive.”_ She took her helmet off to reveal the distinct pink facial markings of the royal family of Altea. There were tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. “I thought--I thought we were the only ones--” She collapsed to her knees and started crying in earnest.

Romelle took a few steps forward and knelt in front of the Princess. “Princess Allura?”

Allura nodded and wiped the tears off her face. Romelle looked up when she heard footsteps and another figure, not Altean, in black Paladin armor walked up and rested a hand on the Princess’s shoulder. Three other figures in blue, yellow, and green stood in a circle a little ways apart, staring out over the compound.

The one in green said something that Romelle couldn’t understand, but the Princess seemed to process it. She took a deep breath and stood up. “Yes, tell him to bring the Castle in. He deserves to see this too. Ah, you must be Romelle, right?”

Romelle nodded. “Yep. This idiot here is my brother Bandor.”

“Hey!”

The Princess smiled. “Could you take me to whoever’s in charge?”

Romelle shifted on her feet. “Uhhh….that’s kinda….us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> random note on Lotor+the Generals names: since they're all half-Galra, their matronymic names don't have to only have Galran letters. Axca's matronymic is pronounced like her name is


	3. Victory or Death?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt and Kolivan have A Talk.

“Kolivan!”

The Galra in question turned around from the reports on the holotable in front of him to look at the person calling his name. It was one of the rebels, the one that had quickly become their liaison with Voltron and looked a lot like the Green Paladin. What was his name?

“Yes? Matt, is it?”

“Yeah, Matt Holt. I need to talk to you.”

Kolivan considered him. He had an aura of urgency about him, like if he didn’t tell Kolivan whatever he needed to right now, and probably even if he did, he’d explode. But there was something else underlying it...anger maybe? What was the human angry about?

“Go ahead.”

“You need to keep an eye on Keith.”

He blinked in confusion. “I do keep an eye on him. He’s our liaison with Voltron, and I know if anything happens to him the Black Paladin would do unspeakable things to me.” Not to mention his  _ mother, _ if he ever managed to tell her. 

“Well you’re not keeping  _ good enough _ of an eye on him. Do you  _ know _ what he almost did today?”

Matt was obviously not referring to the fact that Keith had taken part in the battle. As far as he knew, Keith had fought admirably to capture the Zaiforge Canon on Senfama, and then coordinated with the rebel teams until the Imperials had shut both canons down. He’d abruptly left Senfama, certain that something was wrong with Voltron and after that Kolivan had lost track of the kitok in the mess created by Haggar’s appearance. “No, I don’t know what he did after he left Senfama.”

Matt had an unreadable expression on his face. “He’d barely given us a chance to see if our weapons would work. We could have focused our fire better, found a weak point where there probably was one at the tip of the shield generators, done _something_ else. But he decided to try and _ram the shield with his stolen fighter._ He didn’t even know if it would work but he decided _sacrificing his own life_ was the best course of action. You know how flimsy those fighters are, right? I ran the calculations while I was trying to find him earlier. There was absolutely _no_ way a single fighter ramming into the shield would have taken enough of it down for us to break through and disrupt Haggar. If Lotor hadn’t shown up he would be _dead._ _Pointlessly dead.”_

“Oh.”

“Yeah  _ “oh.” _ I want to know  _ why _ that was his first thought because the Keith I knew on Earth….okay he probably would have done that but he’d at least have  _ considered other options more effectively.” _

“Our way has always been victory or death--”

_ “No.” _

“What do you mean,  _ no. _ I’ve studied our culture, that’s been our way--”

“I’m  _ saying, _ that “victory or death” is a  _ bullshit way of approaching the universe, _ Kolivan. I  _ get _ that you’re a spy.  _ I’m a spy too. _ But there are better ways of keeping your network safe than “victory or death.” You lose your top agents that way, which can lead to losing even more people, or a crucial part of your network being found. Is that really a risk an intelligence operation wants to take? Whatever happened to living to fight another day? Keeping your top agents in the field and gathering even more intel that could save  _ countless _ lives? If you’re going to be working with Voltron you have to  _ follow _ its ideals. You have to make an effort to save as many as you can. Saving lives is more important than accomplishing the mission sometimes. 

“And I know what you’re about to say, something about that sentence has been ingrained in your culture for thousands of years and you know what? That is  _ false. _ That is  _ blatantly false. _ Victory or death is very clearly a  _ Zarkon-age Imperial invention. _ I’ve picked up a bit of Galran history. Do you  _ really _ think that Kovan the Peace-Bringer believed in victory or death? Your idealized leader who united the five Houses again after the Thuranial War? Do you think that “victory or death” is holding up the honor of House Marmora? Because that doesn’t make any sense to me. So shut the  _ fuck _ up and  _ think _ about the system that’s been handed down to you and how it’s been influenced by Imperial culture.”

Kolivan stared at the human. Who did he think he was to come to him and--no. No, this wasn’t the first time. He’d ignored it the first time, thinking it was just a cultural difference of ten thousand years. But that thought in and of itself should’ve been enough proof that she was  _ right. _ Matt was right. Somewhere along the line the ideals of the Blade of Marmora had been corrupted by the Empire away from the ideals of its founder.

He’d really fucked up. More than once, by the look of it.

“Perhaps….perhaps you are right.”

_ “Thank _ you. Now, what are you going to do about it?”

“Why do you care so much, Matt?”

“Because I will not have someone who is practically my  _ brother _ isolate himself to that environment and if you won’t fix it I will forcibly drag him back to the rebels with me.”

Truly, Kolivan had no idea. The only thing he could think of was extracting her and asking her to help. “I do not know, but I promise you, Matt, that I will fix it. I swear upon my House’s honor.”

Matt crossed his arms. “Good enough for now I suppose. What about Keith?”

“What about him?”

“Are you going to  _ talk _ to him? I can tell he’s been isolating himself and that’s not good for him, as much as he does it.”

Kolivan tilted his head. “I thought...all humans tended to isolate themselves?”

Matt sighed and his head hung so his chin was touching his chest. “Oh dear god. No. Humans are just as social creatures as Galra are. We don’t operate well without a support network of people we know and care about. Even I know that and I’m a  _ computer scientist _ so….it’s like. A thing. I don’t know. My point is, stop letting Keith isolate himself. He is a giant introvert, so he will need time to himself, but don’t let him isolate. Make him do things other than missions and training. Introduce him to some physics nerds, he’ll end up talking about orbital dynamics for hours and before you know it he and whoever he’s talking with will have proved some new formula for motion of a three body system or something.”

“Keith likes physics?”

“YES! It’s all he would ever talk about before Kerberos and all that. I haven’t seen him talk about something that wasn’t a mission or the fate of the universe since Pidge found me.” Matt covered his face with his hands and then dragged them down. His eyes pleaded with Kolivan, face crestfallen. “He really hasn’t talked about physics at all? Not even like, a sentence? He hasn’t even mentioned how cool the system your base is  _ hidden in _ is?”

Kolivan shook his head. Matt sighed and closed his eyes. “Please just, don’t let him isolate. I’m gonna go find him again, he should have showered and eaten by now.”

He watched the human leave the room as a feeling of guilt crept up on him. He’d failed her kitok, the one thing he’d promised himself not to do before he could extract her. Kolivan resolved that he  _ wasn’t _ going to fail his kitokva  _ ever again, _ and that would start with changing the Blade.

….Perhaps there was another Galra who would be interested in changing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I can't believe Matt became the catalyst for changing the Blade in a spur of the moment writing what are you doing @ brain.  
> also! Good place for a headcanon: every Garrison cadet technically has an academic "major" kinda, always a space-related STEM things, although it's not usually as focused on as their piloting and stuff. Hunk=aerospace engineering, Pidge+Matt=computer science, Lance+Sam Holt=astrobiology, Shiro+Keith=astrophysics.


	4. New Blade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kolivan asks for a favor and then starts on his promise to Matt.

The Princess blinked at him. “You want to  _ what?” _

“Offer them a place in the Blade.”

“You can’t be serious, Kolivan.”

“I am serious. They have proven, between what they did at Naxzela and the creation of Ambar, that they have no loyalty to the Empire. On top of that, just before we committed to the Naxzela campaign, my team intercepted a transmission that Zarkon declared Lotor dumora.”

Kolivan saw Keith’s head snap over from where he was standing next to Shiro. “He  _ what?” _ the boy growled. 

“Lotor is dumora. He has no reason to go back to the Empire, and couldn’t even if he wanted to. I would not be surprised if Zarkon got what remains of the House Council to declare the other four dumora too.”

Keith crossed clenched fists. “I didn’t think I could hate that fucker even more. His own  _ son, _ for  _ no reason?” _

Hunk raised a hand. “Uh, yes, what is ah, dumora? It’s not translating.”

“Literally, not family,” Keith answered, “but the connotations are...being declared dumora is worse than dying. If you’re dumora, you no longer have access to any support from your House or any other House. You’re completely cut off from everyone you ever knew and loved. Usually you have to do a whole hell of a lot to be declared dumora, but apparently if your dad is the Emperor and he wants to get rid of you, you don’t have to do anything.”

Kolivan nodded. “In the old days, it was even said that your martok would not rejoin the stars.”

“Oh. Wow that’s uh….yeah.”

“So you’re saying you trust them enough to offer them a position in the Blade.”

“I’m not saying I trust them at all. I’m a spy, Princess. But I trust their fighting skills, and that they have no loyalty to the Empire. Assuming they pass the Trials, they would be useful agents. They would also likely enjoy the ability to prove themselves to us.”

Kolivan waited as Allura glanced at the other Paladins. Hunk shrugged. “If they can’t go back, we might as well offer them a place here.”

Pidge nodded. “We might as well let them prove that they’re trustworthy, especially because I think that cool ship they brought with them is quintessence locked like the Lions. We’re probably gonna need them eventually.”

Lance nodded too. “What Hunk said. I know I’d be lost if I got cut off from my family, we might as well offer them a chance to follow us.”

Shiro sighed. “If Kolivan’s right, then I see no need to stop him. They wouldn’t be put on high level missions right away, right?”

Kolivan shook his head. “No. I’d split them up for a while, and have one of my top agents accompany Lotor for at least a few missions. They will have to work their way to gain my trust.”

“Then I’m for it.”

There was silence for a moment before Allura cleared her throat. “Keith?”

Keith tilted his head. “Yeeees?”

“What’s your vote?”

He blinked at her. “Uh, why? I’m not a Paladin anymore.”

“Even if you’re not actively a Paladin, I still value your input, Keith.”

He averted his eyes, slightly embarrassed by her admission. “I agree with Kolivan here. Dumora is a huge thing, they can’t go back to the Empire even if they try. It might help the Blade to have a few people who know some of the inner workings of the Empire that we could never even hope to reach, and we could help them get back on their feet.”

Allura nodded. “Kolivan, I release them to your custody to do with as you see fit.”

* * *

Kolivan found Keith sitting on the steps of the main building of the Altean colony. He wasn’t quite sure if the kitok was people-watching or simply staring into space. He sat down next to him and looked in the direction he was, trying to figure it out. Quickly he grew bored and turned to considering the kitok next to him.

“If you’re trying to people watch, you’re doing a very bad job.”

Kolivan snorted. “I was simply trying to figure out what you were doing.”

Keith sighed. “Thinking.” Kolivan stayed silent. If Keith wanted him to know, he would know. “I just….I almost expected Matt to yell at me, when he found me for the first time after Naxzela. I was prepared to defend my actions because I thought they were the only course we had. And then instead he physically dragged me to get food, somehow found my old room in the Castle and a bunch of clothes, and pushed me at the shower. I probably  _ deserved _ to be yelled at for that. But he didn’t. I don’t even know if Shiro  _ knows, _ but he hasn’t talked about it.”

“Matt yelled at me.”

Keith blinked and turned to look at Kolivan. The image of Matt, the shorter than average, thin, and lanky Human, walking up to Kolivan, the bulky, tall, and commanding Galra, and proceeding to yell at him was almost funny. “How did he make that connection?”

“He pointed out a problem with the Blade’s philosophy that I had not allowed myself to recognize before, despite it being pointed out to me. “Victory or death” may keep the Blade alive in the short run, but in the long run it will destroy us.”

Keith hummed. “It is a rather...self destructive philosophy. I see where it came from, and probably how it helped, but I can also see the problems.”

Kolivan nodded. “I have decided to try and change it. With our new allies we can afford to take a few more risks to keep people alive. And, as a Paladin, I was wondering if you would help me.”

Keith stared at Kolivan. “Sorry, what?”

“You have a distinct viewpoint on our philosophy, not only as a Galra raised outside of any Imperial influence, but as a Paladin of Voltron. You know best how Voltron operates and what we can do to change the Blade so it not only aligns with what we need in this war, but what we need after it. I need someone with that experience to help me lead this, and you’re one of two people I know.”

“Kolivan, I’m not a l--”

“Yes you are. Granted, you still need to work on letting your emotions get the better of you, but you  _ are _ a leader. I’ve seen you lead missions after the commander was downed. You’re  _ good _ at it. Never forget that both the Red and Black Voltron Lions have allowed you to pilot them, Keith”

“I--okay. Alright.”

“And, kitokva?”

“Yes?”

“Please, for the love of the stars, don’t try and do that again. There is always a better way than that. I understand that Voltron was in trouble, you were pressed for time, and that was the best course of action you could think of, but I’m pretty sure your brother would actually kill me if you died on my watch.”

Keith finally gave him a wry smile. “Which one?”

“Both.”

Keith took a deep breath and stood up. “Alright, if we’re gonna be changing the Blade from the inside out, we’d better get a head start. Where do we start?”

Kolivan stood as well. “After we get our five potential Blades through the Trials. For the moment, you rest. Talk to your friends before we leave. Once we get back to base, I want you to go talk to our science division. They may have some useful intel for you. Then we regroup and figure out what to do.”

“And somewhere in there we set up protocols to look for the missing Altean leader.”

“Correct.”

Keith nodded and turned to go, but then paused and turned back around. “Kolivan, you mentioned you knew someone else with the same experiences as me, a Galra raised outside of Imperial influence with ties to Voltron. Who?”

Kolivan smiled. “She’s on a deep cover mission right now, but I’m making plans to extract her. You’ll meet her soon enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: sets up all this stuff for Krolia+Keith meeting  
> also me: Can't Fucking Write It. I have some stuff for after they meet??? and the other thing I've been working on is well after that, like, WELL after, Project Kuron has to do some stuff, and the switch-back, and some Klancey Klance. I even have like! A few ideas for them meeting! A few scenes planed out in my head! But not like a full blown fic with an actual plot! It is frustrating!

**Author's Note:**

> SERIOUSLY FOR WANT OF A NAIL MUCH????  
> If lotor doesn't kill Narti, then his generals don't have a reason to turn on him, they don't have a reason to go grab Sam Holt and make a bargain with him, the whole prisoner exchange never happens, Zarkon never dies (well, Zombie!Zarkon), the Kral Zera has no reason to happen, and Lotor never ends up emperor. AND If the Kral Zera never happens there's no need to extract Krolia, so even if I wasn't having Lotor TELL ALLURA THE COLONY EXISTS, Keith and Krolia would never end up in the quantum abyss and find out all the shit Lotor did, so the Lotor-Voltron battle like, double can't happen.  
>  _ **literally nothing after A New Defender can happen**_  
>  (except Monsters and Mana lmao fyi that definitely is a regular pastime for the Paladins. White Lion can also theoretically happen, but if Lotor isn't Emperor then they need some other way to get a compass stone. See: Altean Colony)


End file.
